Robbery incidents: Chandni Chowk traders turn to GPS

New Delhi: Traders in old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk are turning to technology to guard themselves against rising robbery incidents by installing GPS devices on their cash bags and jewellery boxes in order to track the stolen items. They believe such a device will keep an effective check on the snatching incidents. A delivery agent was allegedly robbed of Rs 4 lakh by unidentified men inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel here last week. In another incident, a businessman was looted of Rs 4.5 lakh and his scooter in north Delhi’s Kashmere Gate recently, police said.

At Chandni Chowk, jewellery shops dot both sides of the main alley at Sarafa Bazaar. Called the “jewellers’ street”, this market sees daily transactions of lakhs of rupees, making it prone to robberies. Yogesh Singhal, president, Bullion and Jewellers Association, said, “You can fit this (GPS) device to your bag, put it in the middle of bundles of notes, or keep it in a jewellery box.” “It will keep telling the location on your phone in case of a robbery. With the help of this device, police can easily reach the location and arrest the accused along with finding the stolen goods,” he said. Elaborating further, Singal said the Global Positioning System (GPS) devices have real time tracking and pin-points high accuracy. “Monitoring of the device is done through satellites. The location of the device can be seen all over India. You can see the records up to six months,” he said.